Looks like an ICE, but it's not: the “Zefiro” high-speed train from the design company in Hennigsdorf
Image: Alstom
Attractive curves inside and out, colorful paint and upholstery variations, sophisticated controls: no different than the car, the modern train bears the hallmarks of industrial designers.
Design is an important factor for the success and acceptance of rail as a means of transport. This is how Ursula Bartelsheim, exhibition curator at the DB Museum in Nuremberg, explains the importance of design for rail transport. In 2022, the traditional House of Railway History hosted a highly acclaimed special show “Design & Railway”. And that after the engineers had predominantly had the say in the almost two hundred year history of the railway. Whatever was technically proven and remained within budget was acceptable to them. What Bartelsheim formulated in a demanding way was ignored for a long time: “Design is not just decoration, but always has a practical function.” It should “create a pleasant environment and ensure usability”.
The expression “form follows function” is more than a hundred years old, but to this day it also describes where modern industrial design can start in railway technology. Creativity is only one side, the ability to compromise is the other. “Industrial designers are like dancers with chains on their feet,” says Michael Sohn. He designed rail vehicles for more than 30 years. He has now retired as “Global Design Studio Manager” at the railway technology group Alstom. His experience: The freedom of the pleasing form is anything but limitless. It is restricted by technical norms, standards, laws, costs – and last but not least by the ideas and tastes of the client. This is usually a railway company, i.e. a train operator. He wants new trains that can run for three decades if possible and to make his offer more attractive – also in terms of mobility transition and climate protection.
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